Copyright ÂŠ 2012 Mike Yoshiaki Daikubara
Designed, printed and bound in the United States of America.
All rights reserved. No part of this book (except small portions for review purposes) may be reproduced or transmitted
in any form by any means, electric or mechanical, including
photocopying and recording or by any information storage,
or retrieval system, without permission from the author. For
information please contact: mike@daikubara.com
All sketches in this book were done using my new Sailor Fude
De Mannen fountain pen my wife gave me for my birthday
right before the trip - it can draw lines like a brush! Ink was
filled with Platinum Carbon Ink - super fast drying and very
water proof!

Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m also an Urban Sketcher!
www.urbansketchers.org

Forward

A 9 day guided Egypt tour with airfare came out
of the blue in a form of a Groupon deal for 41% off!
It was a tour offered by Classic Escapes and it felt
like an opportunity that rarely comes around so my
wife and I jumped on it and weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re glad we did.
The sun, the temperature, the tour schedule, the
historic monuments, the constant haggling to buy
anything etc.. Everything was intense about Egypt
but so were the memories and experiences left over.
Finding slots of time to sketch during this trip was
a huge challenge but I learned to sketch quickly using my new Sailor fountain pen and ended up producing over 30 sketches. Most of them are rough
and quick but I feel it captures the atmosphere of
the place pretty well.
During this trip my wife and I made dozens of new
friends that we toured along with and it turned out
to be a trip that weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll never forget. We hope to be
able to do more trips like this in the future!

First time on Egypt air. Clean and quite nice.
This was the first time I saw a USB port and Phone jack built
into the seat panel on a plane.

6

Cairo - Giza

Bus ride from Cairo airport to our hotel in Giza. Crazy traffic and
everyone on the bus is was falling asleep but Kana was taking
lots of pictures. Lots of unfinished building were seen - heard it
was for tax purposes.

DAY 2

7

DAY 2

8

Giza Pyramids view from hotel room

View from our hotel room - 2 Giza Pyramids! (3rd one could not be
seen from our room). The hotel entrance had metal poles to keep
cars out and a security guard with a dog possibly to sniff out firearms?

Hotel room layout on hotel letterhead

Room layout drawn to scale. I was pretty happy with the room
but my wife was frustrated that everyone else on the tour had
a bigger window and a balcony. It made her feel a little better
when someone mentioned that the balcony was dirty.

DAY 2

9

DAY 3

Giza Pyramids entrance

Early morning visit to the Giza Pyramids. Since they have limited number of people that are allowed in a day, weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re on line
here luckily while seated inside an air conditioned bus.

10

Sphinx

Rear of the Sphinx! I had fun with this view.
Lots of people were crammed in a small area near the front to
take pictures of the front so I went to the back where there was
nobody. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s too bad we couldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t get up close.

DAY 3

11

DAY 5

The Colossi of Memnon

Two massive stone statues the west bank of Luxor.
The Small pyramid piece was something we bought from a vendor in this location - detailed and nicely made.

20

Tut-ankh-amen

Tut-ankh-amen (AKA King Tut) in the valley of kings. It cost an
extra 100 L.E. to enter this small area and photography was not
allowed. It was quite an experience to be able to capture this
sketch of the coffin and the mummy.

DAY 5

21

DAY 7

32

Philae temple

Temple entrance. Similar to Abu Simble, this temple had been
dismantled from the original location and moved to this location
because of the construction of the Aswan Dam. This temple had
been flooded for half a century.

Perfume shop

Hereâ&#x20AC;&#x2DC;s a store person giving us an explanation of all types of
perfumes they carried in the store - most major brand perfumes
could be purchased here as pure concentrates. They carried
lots of beautiful glass containers too.

DAY 7

33

About the author

Mike Daikubara is an Industrial Designer and Urban Sketcher capturing his everyday journey even
when at home and much more when traveling.
This is his 3rd sketch book release and heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s super
excited about the sketches made on this trip to
Egypt.